Free Business Dissertations - The Adoption Of E-business By Small And Medium Sized Enterprises In Uk An
THE ADOPTION OF E-BUSINESS BY SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES IN UK
AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE BARRIERS AND CARRIERS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction4
2. Aims and Objectives5
3. Literature Review6
4. Research Methodology & Analysis8
5. Ethical Implications10
6. Time table11
References12
1. Introduction
Information Technology is the buzzword that has taken the world to a completely different era in the last couple of decades. Especially Internet has made a prolific influence on the business world. Today almost every organisation is looking to reap the perils of the internet and enhance their business prospects. The new technological innovations have allowed organisations to conduct business in a completely new way by using online electronic transaction mechanisms and the concept of E-Commerce evolved (Gunasekaran & Love, 1999; Westland and Clark, 1999). Today in the business and commerce sector IT has taken the form of E-Commerce. The reason for the dot com boom can be attributed to the fact that many investors around the world made an initial bid to establish themselves in the new E-Business world by reaping the advantages of the technology (Ernest and Young, 2000). The downfall of the dotcom era forced majority of the business houses to face bankruptcy and give up their businesses. This effect was particularly severe on the small and medium sector (SME’s) companies. This prompted most of the entrepreneurs to believe that investing in IT was not profitable.
Pickering, (2001) suggested that most of the readers will think that E-Commerce and E-Business is the same thing, which is not true. This belief has led many entrepreneurs to avoid the adoption of the new economy cycle based on the initial failure of E-Commerce, which is only a part of the whole E-Business structure. This study will try to bring the major advantages and disadvantages that the SME’s generally face while they try to incorporate IT with their existing business strategy.
2. Aims and Objectives
The main aim of this project is to find out the customers as well as organization’s perspective towards e-commerce. Alongside the study will also try to find out how much electronic transaction have influenced the small and medium scale industry and will measure the level of customer’s satisfaction and their attitudes towards e-business. Additionally this dissertation will also provide with accurate, up-to-date, research-based information about possible future trends in e-commerce. And lastly, this research will provide some suggestions and recommendations to be considered for the improvement of e-commerce for small and medium scale industries and to develop ideas for further research in this context.
This study will also explore the nature of business relationships, motivations for websites, and security and trust in e-commerce.
